An inspired summer signing and a superstar striker had fired Union Berlin back to the top of Bundesliga as they began their first-ever title defence in style. Manager Ruprecht Prusseit’s biggest challenge now was to keep hold of his in-demand players.
2039 began with two pieces of slightly disappointing news. Firstly, winger Leandro, who failed to live up to Prusseit’s expectation of being the new Endrick and had zero assists in 18 games this season, was sold to Stuttgart for £33.5m. Then stalwart midfielder Grga Picak refused to sign a new deal and agreed a move to Barcelona at the end of his contract, where he’ll earn an outrageous £195k a week.
The squad was a little light so Prusseit had a deadline day splurge on a few future stars in wonderkid attacker José Marco for £13.75m from Athletico Paranense, winger Pedro Murúa for £4m from River Plate and midfielders Oskar Czerwinski for £3m from Legia, who took him back on loan until the end of the season, and Cristian Hernández for £5m from Boca Juniors.
Difficult Bundesliga Resumption
Bundesliga resumed with three players at the Asian Cup for two tricky home games. First up, the season’s star men so far Claudio Sepúlveda and Leandro Van Dessel scored in a 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen. They then had a huge game at home to 2nd-place Bayern, which turned out to be a classic. Union came out flying and raced into a 2-0 lead through Picak and Van Dessel. But Bayern snuck back into the game and scored just before the break then inevitably equalised just after it. And they completed a turnaround 11 minutes later. But Prusseit made several subs, pushed his team forward and got his reward as midfielder Anton Cerne won a penalty that Fredrick Fossdal converted six minutes from time to crown a thrilling 3-3 draw.
The tricky fixtures continued at 4th-place Freiburg, where they escaped with a 0-0, then 6th-place Gladbach, where Sepúlveda rescued a 1-1. They again had the striker to thank for a brace in a 2-0 win at home to 9th-place Eintracht Frankfurt.
The tough games didn’t stop there as a trip to Dortmund, who were somehow lingering in 11th, saw another 0-0. Then they welcomed 5th-place Nürnberg and suffered a surprise 2-0 home loss but, on the same day, both Leipzig and Bayern also dropped points.
Champions League Progression
Union resumed the Champions League league phase with a 4-1 annihilation of Olympiakos, who scored their only shot to Union’s 36 thanks to the ref awarding a nonsense penalty. They then welcomed Inter on the final day and a more conservative approach helped them nick a 2-0 win courtesy of a Miroslav Milosevic penalty and a header by centre-back Abdelkarim Belkacem. That secured 14th place and progression to the playoff round.
Union drew Celtic in the playoffs and got a shock in Scotland as the home side took the lead after 21 minutes. But Prusseit lay into his side at half-time and they responded to win 3-1 with Marco scoring off the bench on his debut. Marco scored again on his full debut as Union won the home leg 2-0 to progress 5-1.
An interesting last-16 draw paired Union with fellow OstDeutscher side RB Leipzig. Union were at home first and made a great start as Van Dessel scored inside five minutes. But Leipzig had the better of the game and got a deserved equaliser after the break. The two sides played out a classic at Leipzig, as Van Dessel scored late on to make it 2-2 and force extra-time. But Leipzig, who’d apparently rested players for their previous league game, edged it 4-3.
Leipzig went on to defeat Barcelona 4-2 on aggregate then lost 4-3 to Man UFC in the semis. And Man UFC lost to PSG on penalties in the Final.
Title Battle Heats Up
Union came into the final eight games of the season on a bit of a sticky run of form with two wins in seven league games since the start of 2039. However, they still had a four-point lead over both Leipzig and Bayern.
Union began at Hamburg and looked destined for yet another 1-1 draw before Marco popped up with his first league goal for a 94th-minute winner. Prusseit reached his 700th game in management at 15th-place Werder Bremen and his side celebrated in style as a Sepúlveda brace and a Bruno Rodríguez strike earned a 3-0 victory. Elsewhere, Leipzig lost 1-0 at home to Freiburg and Bayern lost 2-1 at Wolfsburg, who scored in the 92nd minute, so Union opened up a seven-point gap. Sepúlveda edged them ever closer as his hat-trick led a 5-1 thrashing of struggling Köln and a Milosevic penalty nicked a 1-0 win at home to Wolfsburg.
And that teed up a huge potential title decider at Leipzig, who Union have only beaten twice in Prusseit’s 15 meetings and also their last 30 meetings in total. And that trend continued as Union put in their worst performance of the season and gifted Leipzig the only goal of the game to reduce the gap to four points.
Bayern had slipped six points behind Leipzig, which meant it was again a two-horse race between the two OstDeutscher sides going into the final five games of the season. But Union certainly had the more favourable fixtures.
Union kicked off gameweek 30 by welcoming bottom side Jahn Regensburg, who didn’t help their cause by having a player pick up his second yellow card just before the break. Milosevic immediately made them pay before Sepúlveda ran riot with four goals after half-time to seal a 5-0 thumping. And the next day, Leipzig lost 2-1 at Leverkusen.
Sepúlveda was now level with Michael Storskov’s club record of 41 goals in a season. While Union’s first chance to retain their title came in a huge Berliner Derby at home to Hertha. They started well then conceded to Hertha’s only attack of the half. Prusseit lost his head and sent water bottles flying around the dressing room, which got the desired result as Milosevic equalised and Sepúlveda swiftly added a second to break the goalscoring record. Their high press worked as Picak seized on a weak pass to create a second for Sepúlveda, who went on to wrap up yet another hat-trick and seal a 4-1 victory. Leipzig thumped Werder Bremen 4-1 then lost 1-0 at Bayern, which meant Union became champions without kicking a ball.
Union Berlin retained their Bundesliga crown!!
Union celebrated their success by hammering Fortuna Düsseldorf 5-0 led by a Van Dessel brace. Sepúlveda did the same in a 3-0 win at St Pauli then went one better to move to 50 goals for the season in a 3-1 win over Stuttgart.
That saw Union finish with exactly the same record as the previous season, winning 25, drawing six and losing three. Leipzig fell apart with their European commitments, which saw them drop below Bayern into 3rd. Union scored a league-high 82, which was 17 more than last season, and conceded just 22, which was two fewer than last season.
Sepúlveda scored more than double any other player in Bundesliga, topping the charts with 41 goals in 34 games. But Van Dessel got the most assists with 13 and was the best player in the league with a 7.58 average rating, ahead of Rodríguez (7.57) and Sepúlveda (7.53).
Union and Prusseit’s First DFB-Pokal Final
Union had struggled in DFB-Pokal through Prusseit’s reign and, in fact, this entire save, never making it past the Eighth Final. But this season they defeated Neustrelitz, Eintracht Braunschweig and Düsseldorf 4-0, 2-0 and 1-0. They thumped Wolfsburg 4-0 in the quarter-final then a Marco penalty nicked a 1-0 win over Stuttgart, which took place just two days after their league win over Hertha. So they moved into the Final without conceding a goal!
In the least surprising news ever, their opponent was Bayern, who defeated another OstDeutscher side Magdeburg 3-1 in the semis. Prusseit had a fully fit squad to choose from so lined up:
Lee; Serrao, Belkacem, Borborema, Poulos; Pereira; Picak; Milosevic, Van Dessel, Rodríguez; Sepúlveda
The match began pretty slowly with Bayern having a half chance before Union missed a few opportunities. But they eventually landed the first punch as Rodríguez flicked the ball into the path of Van Dessel, who brilliantly volleyed a screamer into the top of the net three minutes before half-time. A very quiet second half saw Sepúlveda hit the post and Bayern offer virtually nothing. And Union cruised to a relatively comfortable 1-0 victory.
Union Berlin won their first-ever DFB-Pokal and wrapped up a domestic treble!!
Celebrating Union’s Greatest Season
Union backed up their first national title by swiftly adding their second Bundesliga and their first-ever German Cup victory. Prusseit was delighted with his team’s progress and was very excited the club’s future.
Sepúlveda smashed the club’s goalscoring record, finishing the season with 50 goals in 50 games but, interestingly, didn’t record a single assist! That was followed by the 15 goals of Milosevic, who topped the club’s assist charts with 19. While Rodríguez also impressed with 13 goals and 16 assists.
But Van Dessel was arguably the club’s best performer in his first season, scoring 14 and getting 14 assists with a 7.59 average rating. As a result, Van Dessel became the first Union player to win the German Football of the Year award, with Milosevic in 3rd, then the German Players’ Player of the Year, ahead of Rodríguez and Sepúlveda. While Sepúlveda won the European Golden Shoe, finishing well clear of 2nd-place Endrick at Barcelona.
Union’s overachievement saw the board hand Prusseit a new contract with a £10k wage increase, taking him to £45k per week until 2043. While this season’s success lifted Prusseit to number eight in the German Hall of Fame.
Could Prusseit keep the good times rolling and win a 3rd successive Bundesliga? Join us on Friday to find out!
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